November Jones
by beansprout1997
Summary: The Captain makes a friend and finds love in a world he no longer understands, and she learns that she is not alone anymore.
1. Introducing November Jones

Meet November Jones. That's right. November is a name. Her three sisters took up all the regular month names- April, May and June. And instead of just picking a regular, run of the mill first name in the event of her birth, her parents went with November. The joys. Of course when her parents had discovered her 'abilities' at the age of 4, the nickname "Nova" came about.

What abilities, you ask? Miss. November Jones ladies and gentlemen, has the beautiful, impossible, devastating ability to create stars. And black holes. And asteroids. Of any shape, size and intensity. She holds the universe in her hands.

Which is exactly why she was standing in the front office of S.H.E.I.L.D HQ in New York. Not that she knew that much about why she was there. But that part can wait.

She sat in a hard, uncomfortable metal chair provided for those waiting for service and twiddled her thumbs. Her dull green eyes took in the boring reception, decorated in white and gray with chrome accents, and she sighed. For about the millionth time she glanced up at the clock. An hour now she had been waiting. She was 30 seconds away from getting up and stomping out of the clinical building (if someone who stood at 5'1 and 108 lbs could stomp) when a tall and beautiful woman came out of a door to November's left. The stranger looked her up and down slowly, not one ounce of friendliness held in her gaze.

"Jones?" she said in a quipped English accent. She had no idea how to respond to that. All she could do was open her mouth and close it a couple of times while she tried to figure out how she'd offended the woman. Coming up with nothing, she gave a slow nod. The woman rolled her eyes and scowled at her.

"Go through that door, down the corridor, turn left and walk until you get to the elevator. Go to the 60th floor. I'm assuming you know how to use the elevator?" She said, her scowl transforming into a nasty sneer.

November had never been so scared in her life. This woman clearly harboured some serious hate for her, but she could find not even one reason for it. All she could do was give the same idiotically slow nod and scurry through the door as fast as she could.

Once through it, it slammed shut behind her, and Nova gave a slow, deep, shaky breath. Maybe she would meet someone nicer before the day was out. She prayed she would. Walking quickly, she clutched her small black bag close to her and kept her eyes down. It felt like a lifetime until she reached the big silver box that would take her to "Fury". All she had was that name. She knew nothing else about what she was heading to.

She entered when instructed by the sharp "ding" and the opening of the doors, a small stuffy box. The air in said box was hot and dry, and smelled faintly of cigarettes. As the doors swished closed November wished as hard as she could that she were somewhere else. Anywhere else. 6 floors up she began to panic. Would the ride ever end? Would she ever be able to breath here in this city, if she couldn't breath here in this box? Why would no one else just board the elevator and remind her there was an exit?

At the 20th floor, Nova began to hyperventilate. For the life of her, she couldn't remember how to get the stupid doors to open. She couldn't think at all. On instinct, she pressed every button the hideous place had to offer and prayed with every fibre of her being that it would save her life. By some miracle, on the 21st floor the doors swished open and through her thankfulness Nova shot through the doors.

Here's where it gets interesting.

She shot through those doors with all the speed and intensity of a shooting star, straight into the first Avenger; Captain America, and catapulted both him and herself into the ground. _Hard_.

She just had time to register the shock on his face before she felt the impact. And boy did she feel it. Some how (and still to this day she doesn't know how) she managed to land with her body flush against his, but with her head over his right shoulder. Her head smashed off the ground and she saw stars, while the rest of her landed on a firm cushion. She vaguely wondered if her cushion was hurt in the fall, but decided it didn't matter when the stars blurred into each other and her vision went white.

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**So a new Fandom for me, and a whole new story line. I hope you enjoy, and please ignore all the star puns and jokes I can't help it :) please REVIEW and let me know what you think!**

**With all my authorly love,**

**Beansprout 1997 xxx**


	2. Bruce's kidnapping

It took Steve a moment to register what had happened- he (in all his 6 foot '7 glory) had been flattened by a tiny woman. She had come at him with such speed he hadn't had time to move out of her way, then he felt the sheer force behind that speed. He couldn't believe it. They had crashed down to the ground, _hard_. The back of his head had made a light thunk on the ground, but he hardly felt it. What caught his attention was the sound of the woman's head cracking off the ground. He lay still for a second, pondering how she had gotten her head above his shoulder before he was snapped back to reality by a small grunt. The woman was struggling to sit up and not hurt him.

His blue eyes widened considerably when he caught a flash of red on her face and realized she had been hurt when they fell. He quickly sat up, his hands on the mystery woman's shoulders to steady her. She didn't even notice as far as he could tell. She lifted a hand lazily to her gushing forehead and looked at her bloody fingertips for a moment before letting her hand fall to her side. And when her hand fell, she collapsed against his chest, unconscious.

Taking action he quickly scooped the small woman into his arms and stood, knowing how dangerous a head wound could be. He didn't know why but he desperately wanted her to be okay. For one thing he couldn't stand the thought that it was his fault that she was hurt. For another, he supposed because he was huge and she was tiny, that maybe she needed to be protected. Whatever the reason, he was now jogging quickly downstairs towards the medical floor, where he prayed Bruce Banner (or the Hulk for those of you who don't know) was working today. He trusted in his good friend's medical ability more than anyone else.

He shouldered the door open, making sure the hard wood didn't knock his cargo. The floor was almost empty save a few nurses, milling around, bored he supposed. He quietly shuffled himself and the small woman into a private examination room, successfully avoiding those nurses. For some reason that Steve couldn't fathom, everytime they saw him they crowded him; touching his arms and chest, and "suggesting" they do "things" together. It didn't bear thinking about in his mind. He lay his load down slowly and gently on the clinical white bed in the center or the room. Her breathing was even and deep, as though she might just be asleep, but her head was bleeding profusely, leaving dark red fluid dripping down her face and off her chin, marking her dark blue dress. She had also gone quite pale, and this did not look like a good thing to the super soldier.

Wasting no time he whipped out his cell phone to clumsily dial the number (after all he didn't really know how to use the thing) that would connect him to the good doctor, but stopped when he caught a glimpse of a familiar silhouette through the white curtain blocking off the window in the door. He crept over and gently moved the curtain millimetres to see it was in fact him. On sight, the Captain opened the door silently, then clamped his hand over Bruce's mouth and pulled him swiftly through the door, slamming it closed with his foot and releasing the man as soon as it was shut. A flash of green sparked in the doctor's eyes before he registered who had taken him, and he took a few soothing breaths.

"Steve, I think we both know that was stupid," he said once he was confident he was calm. The super soldier in question rubbed the back off his neck nervously and apologized. The 'other guy' hadn't factored into his thoughts when he'd kidnapped Bruce.

"Could you please help this woman? I wasn't watching where I was going, and I- well we fell and her head is-"

Banner cut him off with a wave of his hand as he crossed the room to the small, and fragile looking woman on the bed, who appeared to be bleeding heavily. Sighing he pulled out a small hand held torch and lifted her eyelids one at a time, looking into them with it. "What's her name?" he said, noting something down on a nearby pad of paper as Steve took a seat by the girl's head. He hoped it wasn't anything bad.

"I-I'm not sure, I've never seen her before", the captain said, rubbing his neck again. Guilt was boiling low in his stomach, sour and uncomfortable.

After a quick nod, the doctor took her pulse and finally inspected the wound. He wrote something else on the notepad before sighing again and turning to Steve, who was bouncing a leg up and down in anticipation. "well, who ever she is, she's done a number on herself. There's definitely a concussion- though how severe a concussion I don't know. The cuts not huge, but it's fairly deep so I think I'm going to put some stitches in to help with the healing and such. Other than that she seems fine. Can you pass me a suture kit please?" He said gesturing to the well stocked shelves behind the soldier's head. Turning around quickly, always eager to help, he searched the shelves. He had no idea what a suture kit was, but he'd be damned if he was just going to sit there useless. Eventually he found the small pack ladled "SUTURES", and triumphantly handed it to Bruce.

Steve unconsciously wrapped his hand gently around hers as he watched Banner give her three injections to numb her forehead, and didn't let go until the last stitch was tied and the wound dressed. There was still no sign of the Woman waking and the Captain was beginning to worry more. "Bruce, shouldn't she be waking up now? It's been an hour" he said, chewing his bottom lip.

"It's hard to say. Like I said I don't know how severe her concussion is. Hopefully she'll be awake soon. We'll need to keep her under supervision for at least 24 hours after that though, to make sure there's no lasting damage." The doctor replied, taking his glasses off. "For now the focus should be finding out who she is. Tell you what, I'll go make some inquiries, you stay here with her. If she wakes up, keep her calm and explain the situation to her okay?". He was out the door before Steve could reply, leaving him with the still unconscious woman in silence.

* * *

With a jolt he realised he was still hanging on to her hand. He didn't know why, but didn't see any harm in it while she was asleep, so didn't move away. He scanned her face for any sign she was in pain, but she looked peaceful. He let himself appreciate how pretty she was for a second.

In the world he's woken up to, nothing was more valuable and important than beauty. To be skinny, tanned and platinum blonde- it seemed to him- was all women wanted these days. It was how most of the female agents at S.H.E.I.L.D looked, and how most woman he's seen looked. But not the lady in front of him. She was not skinny. Nor was she fat. She had curves, and long mahogany hair, reaching down to her waist. In a world where only straight hair was deemed acceptable, she had wild and untamed curls. She wore little makeup, just a little mascara and blush as far as he could see. He ran a finger over the back of her hand, and noted that her skin was soft and warm, a sharp contrast to the cold pale look it had. She was just his kind of girl.

Now _that_ thought stopped him in his tracks. He dropped the girls hand like it had burned him as his mind was dragged unwillingly back to another beautiful brunette.

Peggy.

He thought of her often after he'd been thawed. It had taken months to work through the guilt he felt, never having come back to her, and the grief of knowing now he never could. He loved her. He knew it was- literally- in the past now though, and that she'd want him to live his life. He'd just never suspected he'd have to live it so soon. Slowly he let go of his knee jerk reaction when he saw a girl he thought was pretty- to think of Peggy, and let himself wonder what she might be like.

He imagined her to be quiet, and shy- somewhat like himself before the serum. Of course that was just going by her size. Looking back to her hands, they were soft, but the palms and fingers were slightly calloused-and he thought she must be a hard worker, whatever she does. Looking at her pretty heart shaped face, he tried to guess her name.

"Amy?" He thinks aloud. He wrinkles his nose. To plain for someone so special.

"Elizabeth?" No, that sounded to uptight and posh for her. He rubbed his chin in thought, his thumb absent mindedly drawing circles on the back of her hand.

"November" Came a deep and gravely male voice from behind the captain. Acting on instinct he stood and spun around, adopting a defensive posture in front of the girl. He straightened up and apologized immediately seeing it was Fury, with a nervous looking Bruce behind him.

"Captain" the intimidating director of S.H.E.I.L.D greeted, "You are standing in front of your new recruit, and newest member of the Avengers Initiative."

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**So a much longer chapter for you, as always I hope you enjoy and Review! Thanks to my sole reviewer so far Idon'twriteIleak, it was lovely to see :) gave me all the fuzzies. So let me know how you feel about this;**

**With all my authorly love,**

**Beansprout1997 xxx**


	3. Making a super soldier blush profusely

Steve's eyes widened considerably as he turned around to view the girl with new eyes. How could she be an Avenger? She looked so fragile, so…breakable.

"Her name is November Jones. We've been watching her all her life, and we believe now is the time to involve her in the initiative." Fury said in his authoritive voice.

"Where did she come from? Why have you been watching her?" Steve answered steadily. He was always a tad weary of Fury, it never felt like he was giving him the whole truth.

"She was born in a tiny town Massachusetts originally, but when she was about a month old her parents moved her to a small privately owned island in the pacific. There she was raised as a weapon by her parents. She has the ability to create and or control stars, asteroids, black holes and the likes. She is immensely powerful. Her parents abused that power, used it to threaten people. We think it best to remove the girl from her parents and have her train here as an Avenger, where she can do good. Her parents are still wanted criminals."

Steve blinked. It was a lot to process for the soldier.

"Her combat training will be left to you and Natasha, with any additional training up to the rest of you. She can control her power incredibly well, but she was never trained in hand to hand fighting because her control is so good."

Steve nodded, already thinking of how he would split the training up between everyone, so that she could get to know each Avenger right.

"There's just one more thing. Once a week she will need a councillor of some kind. You can appoint an Avenger or hire one if you think it best. I trust your judgment."

Fury finished, giving Steve a small rush of pride.

"May I ask why she needs one?" He said, slightly unsure if it was his place to ask.

Fury sighed heavily, and looked over to the tiny woman on the bed sadly. "When she was 10, she killed her three sisters in an accident. They were playing, and her powers flared up. That's why her power is so well controlled now." Not feeling the need to say any more, Fury walked out of the medical wing.

* * *

Bruce- who had been standing silently the whole time, came to stand next to the stool that Steve had dropped into. They both looked at November curiously, and wondered what kind of Hero she'd be. From the sounds of it, a tragic one. "She'll do fine, I'm sure of it." The doctor said quietly.

Meanwhile, November had been conscious for about three minutes, since Fury told Steve about her combat training. She had carefully maintained her breathing and kept her eyes closed, trying desperately to remember where she was. With a jolt, everything came back to her- the snooty receptionist, the elevator ride from hell, the super soldier she had flattened- She shot up from her "sleep" and looked around her frantically searching for the man she had knocked down, to be sure he was okay.

Dizziness and nausea came into play before she could find him however. She heard rushed footsteps over the ringing in her ears and suddenly a bucket was placed in her lap, which she emptied her stomach into. A big hand rubbed her back soothingly while the footsteps walked away again. By the time they came closer, the worst was over and she could lift her pounding and heavy head again.

She appeared to be in a medical room of some sort. There was a kind looking man standing in front of her in a stark white jacket- a doctor she supposed. He smiled at her and took the bucket outside quietly, after handing her a cold glass of water. She turned to face whoever had their hand on her back. To her surprise it was Captain Steve Rogers. The man she basically assaulted this morning. She blushed scarlet and choked on her drink.

"H-hi. I am so, so, so sorry about this morning Captain Rogers-" she began to say hurriedly, but was cut off by the man in question.

"No, please that was entirely my fault. I should have been watching where I was going, and I'm so sorry you were hurt ma'am. How are you feeling now?" He asked politely. He couldn't hide the blush that was quickly making its way up his neck at the sound of her voice. It was musical and soft. Beautiful.

She gave a small laugh and said "Captain Rogers I ran into you, and landed on top of you. That makes it my fault. And I'm feeling a little better thank you. But I do need to go now, a Director Fury is expecting me upstairs, and I'm already late".

At this point Bruce re-entered the room.

"Fury was already down here, and has briefed us on your situation, so you don't need to go see him. What you do need to do however Ms. Jones is lie back down. You have a mild concussion, and need to stay here for a while so we can watch it" the kind looking man stated. He walked over to her and extended his large hand towards her- "My name is Bruce Banner, but you can just call me Bruce" He said with a smile.

She liked him already. She took his hand and shook it. "November Jones. You can call me November," she said smiling back. She shook Steve's hand as well and he introduced himself and told her to call him Steve- a rather pointless but polite move since they both knew each other's names. "So Bruce, how long must I stay put? If I understand correctly, I have a new home to explore, and would like to do so as soon as possible" she prompted hopefully. She was really feeling much better, and wanted to get going.

"Sorry November, you'll be stuck here for at least a few hours, although I would prefer it if you stayed overnight. Head injuries can be very serious" Bruce told her, trying not to laugh when she pouted.

Steve thought he might explode when he saw her sit back with her arms crossed, her bottom lip stuck out slightly- she was just so gosh darn cute. A smile crept over his scarlet face. He was looking forward to making her an Avenger.

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**So a new chapter, not hugely long or short sorry it took me so long to update, very busy! As always read, review and enjoy!**

**With all my authorly love,**

**Beansprout1997 xxx**.


	4. A lack of tact from Tony Stark

**Introductions.**

* * *

The doctor and the Captain had both been chatting quietly to the 'new girl' for about five minutes- and it hadn't gone unnoticed by either of them that after initial introductions had been made, November was sensationally shy. If either man asked her a question about where she'd come from or anything about her parents, three things would happen. She would blush deeply or pale considerably (giving Dr. Banner cause to worry about her health), then she'd drop her eyes to the immaculate tiling of the medical room floor, then came the shrug. So both men steered clear of these topics, choosing instead to chat about the plan for the rest of the day, and what November could expect from the next week.

She was growing almost comfortable with the rhythm the trio had fallen into when the door slammed open and in marched Tony Stark in all his Genius, Billionaire, playboy Philanthropist glory. He was followed closely by a seemingly stoic Natasha Romanov (although Steve noted with a sigh that she kept a hand placed unwaveringly on her gun), an annoyed archer named Clint Barton, and a smiling, ever curious Norse God- Thor. Each filed into the small space until (in November's mind) there was no room to breath.

Their sudden entrance had scared the bajezuz out of her, and she was not a fan of strangers at the best of times. In her whole life she'd only met her family (Mother, Father and Three sisters) as well as one other woman, a medical assistant. The one in charge of the 'tests'. After her sisters had died, it had just been the four of them. She'd never seen so many people before. The city terrified her. So did the tiny room and the boatload of people that now occupied it.

As soon as he realised who had interrupted so rudely, Steve sighed – deep and long. Meanwhile Bruce noticed November turn paper white (again). She had begun to shake- and he suspected- hyperventilate.

"So this is the new girl? The Star maker?" Tony asked loudly, addressing the whole room and pointing at November. Steve silently fumed. He swore he could hear his mothers voice, crystal clear, telling him how rude it is to point. November visibly flinched at all Tony Stark was. Loud and rude. He was talking about her as if she weren't there, as if she didn't have a name.

There was a long silence, filled only with the collective sound of breathing. Natasha stayed back, close to the door. She was wary of strangers, especially powerful strangers that could kill her very easily. Yet she found it hard not to feel sympathetic for the woman sat before her, pale, shaking, and if the clean white patch on her head was anything to go by- hurt. She did her best to convey this sympathy through the look she sent the girl's way, but was painfully aware she was not good at sympathetic looks, and was probably scaring her worse.

Clint swiftly brought his hand up and smacked Tony across the back of the head for his lack of tact or manners, causing the latter to break the silence with a loud and resounding; "What was that for?!". The archer simply rolled his dark and dull blue eyes. He walked slowly and carefully towards the curious girl, and stopped about two foot away from her, giving her what he hoped looked like a reassuring smile before he spoke.

"Hi. My name's Clint Barton, or Hawkeye if you prefer. You're names November right?"

At this, the girl in question gave a slight nod. The man- Clint looked like Bruce, kind, and not like he would kill her.

"I'm sorry about him" he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder towards Stark. "He doesn't have any manners. I understand you must be scared- this is all new to you. But we're your friends and teammates from this moment on. We wont let anything happen to you."

This statement evoked a small change in November. She stopped (visibly) shaking, and her shoulders retreated from her ears back down to a more normal level. She sent her new friend a small smile of thanks, but carefully avoided the eye of the infamous Iron Man. Thor was next to speak. "Lady November, it is indeed a pleasure to make your acquaintance and I hope this is the start of a long and glorious friendship between us all". He smiled widely and moved to hug the woman, who in comparison to the God, was tiny.

This act of kindness and welcome however brought terror to the young woman's eyes. She scooted quickly back across the table she still occupied until she could scoot no more, then jumped off all together, leaving a length of cold steel between her and a confused looking Thor.

She glanced around the room and was met by several sets of bewildered and curious eyes. "I-I… um", she stammered. November really had no clue what Thor was doing when he came closer to her, his arms held wide. He looked like he could crush her with one hand, let alone two arms. "W…were you…attacking me?" she asked hesitantly asked the gargantuan man before her. He in turn released a hearty laugh from deep within his Godly stomach, while Steve shot the others a concerned look. November didn't know what a hug was? Exactly what kind of parents did S.H.E.I.L.D rescue the girl from?

"Of course not Lady November!" Thor said, a laugh still behind his voice. "I could never hurt one as fair as you. I was giving you a hug! It is a midguardian- that is- human custom, a sign of friendship" he explained, keeping in mind what he knew of the star maker. She would not know of the different realms he was sure.

At his words, November blushed profusely. Nobody had ever complimented her on anything other than her abilities before, let alone called her 'fair'. At the word hug, her mind was thrown back so many years to the distant, beautiful cherished memories of her sisters. She indeed remembered what a hug was. she could still smell her eldest sister, April, her flowery perfume as she held her close and squeezed. She indeed remembered what love felt like.

Only seconds had passed when she bounced her finger tips off her forehead with a cry of "of course!". This earned a slow, but steadily growing laugh from the small crowd gathered in the medical room. The ever joyful Thor brushed off the confusion, rounded the expanse of metal separating them, and slowly took November up in a hug.

She hoped it would be a long and glorious friendship for them all as well. Boy did she hope.

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**If anybody's reading, I hope you enjoyed the meet and greet chapter **

**All my authorly love,**

**Beansprout1997 xxx**


	5. All the foods

A week later, November was settled into a room in the newly formed 'Avenger's Tower' (previously Stark Tower she had been informed). She didn't quite know what to make of anything really. See when a secret government organization rip you from your abusive and solitary home life, you don't have time to pack an overnight bag. I.E she had nothing with her._ S.H.E.I.L.D _had given her an uncapped credit card and told her to go mad, Fury himself told her to spare no expense, yet she still hadn't managed to make it outside the doors of the massive tower yet. No one seemed able to grasp the concept that she had grown up with less than 5 other people, and that the very idea of a city packed with millions of people was somewhat uncomfortable for her. Hell this tower was scary.

She had been told in a ten minute brief that she was to be America's newest superhero. She was given no alternative, or choice. November was endlessly glad to be away from the people that had caused her so much pain in life, but at the same time she knew no other life, and couldn't bring herself to leave her room as a consequence. She had no freaking clue what was out there, and planned to keep it that way.

The only person that had any kind of clue how she might be feeling, was surprisingly Natasha. November never saw the super spy in person that whole first week, but small care packages arrived at the foot of her bed every night, with a card that bore the Russian's name. First it was a bundle of very basic clothes- tank tops, t shirts, shorts, jeans and leggings and underwear. Next night it was the latest Stark Industries phone and tablet. She wasn't sure what to do with those yet, so they were lying on her white desk on the other side of the room from her bed. After that a few pretty framed pictures arrived, ready to be hung; a few landscapes of New York and pictures of famous places in general (she recognized them from her lessons in geography). It continued like that until the eighth night of November's stay, when all that arrived was one fuzzy slipper. Bright blue, and soft, November was incredibly tempted to seek out it's other half. She stood in front of her door for nearly 18 minutes trying to make herself go out and converse with her new house mates, but she had discovered a crippling social anxiety since she had come to New York, and that made it slightly more difficult.

Finally she threw the door open and barreled out before she could change her mind, fuzzy slipper in one hand and phone in the other (she was determined to find out what to do with it). But as fate would have it children, there was a certain super soldier stood directly outside her door, hand raised to knock. And of course she crashed right into his brick wall chest. This time, the injuries were far less serious, as he swayed a bit but was otherwise unaffected by the collision. She was sent sprawling onto her butt, but very quickly and gracefully (in her mind) scrambled right back up, a lovely blush rising from her neck to her hairline. He could only stare, as every word in the English language had escaped him in that moment.

He had tried desperately to give her one week to settle in before he talked to her, but had come close to knocking several times. Now it had been eight days, and as far as he knew she hadn't actually left her room since arriving (other than 2 AM speed trips to the fridge to gather food for the following day if JARVIS was correct). So he felt good about knocking, and asking her to join them for lunch, and then maybe a movie. He had been so ready for it, then she had done the thing again. The thing where she goes really fast, but doesn't see him in time. It was getting to be a habit. He did notice that in her small hands she carried what appeared to be one slipper and a phone though. That was definitely new. They stared at each other for a seconds, before she squared her shoulders and lifted her gaze to his face.

"Hello Captain, I was just coming out to look around" she said with so much more confidence than she felt. Then she ruined it a little with the words "i-if that's alright".

"Of course! Of course that's all right!" He said loudly, painfully aware that he was messing this up. "And it's Steve, no need for Captain" He managed, smiling. Oh good, now he was blushing. They fell into silence again, but it didn't last long because Natasha materialized silently behind Steve. He would never admit it but the Russian scared the bajeezuz out of him.

"November! You've finally come out of hiding then" She said with what she hoped was a friendly grin. Only Clint knew how hard she was trying to make the girl feel welcome. For a woman that didn't do emotions, the little gifts and smiles were immense. Natasha wanted her to be a friend to the whole team, and was running out of ideas on how to get her out of her room when she'd seen the slipper thing on a crappy sit com earlier. Clearly it worked. "If you want the other one" she said, eyes glancing at the blue fabric in her hands, "you have to some to lunch with us". Both the Russian and the all-american man waited with bated breath for her answer.

"Right. Yes. Of course" She managed, with a smile. No one could say she wasn't trying. Steve released a breath he didn't know he was holding, and the three of them made their way towards the large kitchen, where Clint was cooking up a storm. Not many people knew it, but he was one hell of a chef.

* * *

Everyone was gathered around a huge table, awaiting the food that smelled so good, and they all grinned madly upon seeing the recluse come out to play. Clint was the first to speak from his position in front of the cooker;

"November, hey! What do you like to eat? I didn't know what so I cooked a little of everything, since JARVIS said all you'd taken from the fridge was water and fruit." Without giving her pause to reply, Clint put both hands on her shoulders and propelled her along the breakfast bar, where there appeared to be a buffet for a small country.

"We got Mexican tacos, French crepe's, Spanish paella, German sausage, Italian pasta, Haggis from Scotland (which strangely no one touched that day), dumplings from China and samosa's all the way from sunny India for ya". He couldn't keep the grin off his face, he wanted to impress her and make a good impression. She was clearly important to Natasha for some reason, and so she was important to Clint. November's eyes were huge as she took in the colors and smells, unsure of what to do.

"How long have you been cooking?" She managed in a voice that said she was genuinely curious. The bird gave a hearty laugh and replied "A couple hours now. Honestly I never get a chance to show off my culinary skills with these people, all they eat is takeout". She shot him a smile in response, beginning to like the man already. Actually she found she liked them all so far, with the exception of Stark. She didn't know what to make of him. Out the corner of her eye she saw the billionaire himself reach for a taco, and Steve slap his hand away, manners telling him to wait until November had been served.

"I- um... I've actually never had any of these foods before... I don't really know what to eat" She uttered quietly to the man that still grasped her shoulders. This raised at least four eyebrows (from four separate Avengers I hasten to add). "So what did you eat on that island?" Clint asked, curiosity getting the better of him. They were all anxious to find out about her life there. November looked down and tried to think of something that didn't sound too bad. "I ate a lot of fruit, that was really my main diet. But they also gave me a food bar at the beginning and end of every day, that was kind of like oats and I think it had banana in it, but you couldn't really taste it over the serum they put in it to magnify my powers..." She was rambling and she knew it, so she promptly shut up. She flicked her eyes up to the bird man, expecting him to be a little weirded out, but he was actually grinning maniacally. "Oh good, so now you have to try _all_ the foods". A quick glance around the room at the other Avengers rolling their eyes meant that he did not just mean the foods he had here. He meant _all_ the foods.

Soon she was sandwiched in between the two she was most familiar with- Bruce and Steve- with a huge plate of everything (and several little plates of stuff around that). She took small bites of what she found to be utterly amazing food, and listened to the strange but friendly conversation. Thor was talking to Natasha about a place called Budapest, and appeared to be trying to figure out what happened there. Steve was talking to Stark- actually arguing with Stark- about the instillation of a new coffee bar on every floor of the tower (Stark arguing the benefits of convenient caffeine and Steve arguing the cost, the waste, the vanity of it all). Bruce was chatting away to Clint who was washing the dishes about future endeavors in cooking, Bruce weighing in that he'd had some experience with Indian food, and they could have a curry night. It was all very homey...

As November took her first and last bite of Haggis, she surmised that she could get used to this.

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**Read, and drop a review if you enjoyed! Much obliged :)**


	6. Jack Ass Strangers

After lunch came to a gradual end (all participants stuffed and November mildly frightened at the quantity of food the men around her could eat), Natasha 'gently' coaxed the new girl into coming to watch a movie with everybody. There was definitely no threats about the other slipper never being found, or haggis becoming a regular occurrence at dinner. She however did manage to sneak off to the bathroom for a moment for a breather. This was...intense to say the least. These people who she had never met before, all seemed nice enough, and appeared to actually want her on this team. It made her wonder, what she could possibly bring to the group to repay it. Her whole life, her mother and father had taught her that everything had to be earned, from the roof over her head to the food on the table. And she hadn't forgotten that lesson in the week and a half since she'd been gone form her home. It danced at the forefront of her mind now- how was she ever going to earn any of this? On the island, she cleaned, she aced her lessons, she perfected her powers, she never stepped a foot out of line, and sometimes even that wasn't enough to satisfy her parents. Who knew what these people were like?

She was contemplating on this subject intensely when there was a quiet knock on the door, bringing her back to reality. Natasha's husky vocals sounded through the polished wood; "You okay November? It's okay if you don't want to watch the movie... I mean I know it's probably a lot... considering... you know..." It was evident that the Russian really didn't know what she was supposed to say to make the younger girl feel better about her situation. The younger girl in question cleared her throat, straightened her shoulders and flung the door open in a show of horrifically false confidence. It didn't escape Natasha's notice that it was an act, but she was a true believer in the phrase 'fake it till you make it', and had high hopes for November 'making it' to a place where she really was comfortable.

With that, both girls walked together in quiet companionship to the DVD room. A huge screen took up most of one wall, and opposite there was a large 5 seater sofa, with surprisingly worn and comfortable looking cushions, and an arm chair at each end of it. To the end of the room furthest from the door there were windows with large shutters ready to be pulled down in the event of a movie that needed to be watched in darkness, and underneath that Stark appeared to have uplifted a small cinema concession stand, complete with popcorn and slushies. Not that November had any idea what the crap any of it was. She was so dumbfounded that she stopped a few paces into the room while Natasha continued on to the only remaining arm chair. She took in the colours and smells in front of her, and knew that she should probably sit down with everybody else, but should she grab what she was assuming was food? She was kind of thirsty, but would it be rude to take a drink? The niggling thought of how she would pay for it came to mind once again, and she began chewing the nail on her pinky in anxious thought.

A hand on her shoulder startled her from her thoughts. Steve looked down at her with a friendly smile, offering her a cup with a straw in it, the contents of which she couldn't see. She eyed it both greatfully, but wearily. Her eyes roamed back to the super soldier in front of her who released a low chuckle. "It's okay you know. I didn't know what any of this stuff was either. Granted for different reasons but hey ho. This is pepsi" he said with a smile, and a shake of the cup. The name of the drink rang a bell in her mind somewhere, and she vaguely remembered one of her sisters telling her it was; "kind of like coke?" She asked, half afraid she was wrong. The captain smiled wider and nodded, placing the large cup firmly in her hand.

He then guided her over to the sofa, with his large hand at the small of her back (an unconscious action that made both of them blush) until he was sat with Thor on his left and November on his right. To the other side of her was a gap, then Natasha in her armchair. Unfortunately what she hadn't realised was that this meant the _only_ gap was next to her. And of course the only one without a seat was the man who went to get the DVD; Tony Stark. In all honesty the man scared her, reminded her a lot of the woman who used to experiment on her. Hadguard was her name. Her parents always told her to show respect to Hadguard, because Hadguard held her life in her hands. She never spoke directly to November, always above her head to her parents. She never showed sympathy during testing phases either. She often saw Hadguard whispering with her father and pointing at her. November supposed that when Mr. Stark did the same thing upon their first meeting, it might have given her a very bad impression of him. She tried very hard to keep in mind that he was a world famous super hero, who had saved countless lives and changed the face of technology for the better. She tried to keep in mind that he wasn't Hadguard as he sat down next to her and put his hands behind his head and his feet up on the coffee table, taking up as much space as possible and making her so uncomfortable that she had to butt shuffle a few inches closer to Steve than she really wanted to at this stage. If he noticed, he didn't say anything and she was grateful for that at least before the movie started.

It was an hour and forty eight minutes of pure gore and terror, some horror that Stark had dug out from his collection. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Steve and Bruce shift uncomfortably in their positions, and flinch a little at the more violent parts. Apparently being in war zones or disease ridden countries had not de-sensitized either of them to the images before them. In all honesty November couldn't care less about the images dancing on the screen in front of her, she'd been watching movies like this since she was little. Hadguard always wanted to know if fear or a survival instinct would intensify her powers, so this was nothing new. But November couldn't relax, and was sat with her back ramrod straight, hands balled into fists in her lap. Her eyes were glazed over in thought as she ignored what was in front of her, and thought back to the times Hadguard had done this to her. As images appeared, there would often be small electric shocks, or needle pricks in random parts of her body to make it seem more real. Sometimes she would be on a treadmill, or soaked to the bone in a chilled room; it depended on the nature of the footage. But each time if she failed to show an increase in power, Hadguard got mad. Often in those times, the shocks and needle pricks got a little more intense and lasted far longer than the movies ever did. The more she thought about it, the more tense she became. She knew logically that these people were not going to hurt her, but the surface of her skin began tingling in anticipation of pain, and she was sweating. She managed to hold it together well enough to the end of the movie, but as soon as the lights came on, and the group began to chat, November stood up, raced to the nearest bathroom and promptly threw up her lunch and the half a pepsi she'd consumed.

As she was hurling, she heard someone enter the bathroom without knocking, brush cool, calloused fingers over her neck and hold her hair back. Once she was done, she laid her forehead down on the rim of the toilet seat and sat for a moment in silence, wondering if it was just Natasha who had noticed her exit. That made her pause. Because Natasha's fingers were long and bony, but not _calloused_. She whipped her head around to see none other than Tony Freaking Stark, pouring her a glass of water. She went from a frail white colour to a teeming scarlet and scrambled to her feet, incredibly embarrassed at having been seen so weak. She stared at the floor tiles in a bitter silence until Stark took her hand and put the glass full of cool water in it. She glanced briefly at their touching hands before chancing a look at his face. She was surprised to find he actually looked... concerned. Even sympathetic. He frowned before releasing her hand and rubbing the back of his neck, taking a few steps away. She gratefully used the few seconds he took to gulp down the water.

"Look, November..." He stared, then sighed. He placed in hands on either side of the large expensive looking sink just across from her. "We got off on the wrong foot, I think. Believe me Captain apple pie and Bird brains AND the green giant all informed me I was an ass at our first meeting. I just- well I am an ass a lot of the time. But that doesn't mean I don't like you, or respect you or whatever. I want you to be on this team, and to feel apart of it, you know? I don't want you to hate me" he finished, hands up in the air. He appeared to have run out of things to say, but what he had already said had stunned her enough as it was. He was being nice to her. She eyed him suspiciously and decided he didn't look like he was pulling anything, so gave him an inch.

"That's *ahem* nice. I guess. You know, I um- don't hate you or anything. You just scare me a little. Is all" She finished quietly, with another cough. His eyes widened in shock. Clearly that wasn't what he was expecting.

"I scare you? Mind if I ask how?" he said, facing her now. She considered for a few moments weather or not she should should tell him anything, after all, he was a virtual stranger. A jack ass stranger at that. But it occurred to November that's all he'd be, all this whole team would be unless she was willing to give a little up. They'd be strangers. As much as she didn't like the situation she'd been thrown in, she thought she might come to like it if they were her friends instead. And so she and Stark sat down on his bathroom floor and talked for a while. She told him a little about Hadguard, and the testing. He in turn told her about his imprisonment in Afghanistan, and his issues with the Chitauri invasion. They talked for about an hour before Natasha knocked on the door to see where they were.

That night they went their separate ways, to their rooms, and both slept a little better than they had in weeks. They were something like friends she liked to think.

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So an update! It's been about a million years since I've posted on this story, but better late than never :) In this chapter I wanted to address the thing between Tony and Nova, so in future they'll be a little closer, and provide a little comic relief when needed. I want there to be a chapter, or at least a part of a chapter dedicated to her interactions with each avenger, how they all in their own ways become friends with her, and how she in turn becomes one of them. Natasha's already kind of had that with the presents, and Clint with the food, and now Tony helping her talk. Steve will be threaded more throughout each chapter with growing importance and significance. **Please leave a review and let me know what you think, I hate writing stories when I don't think people are enjoying them so that's really important to me.**

Thanks for reading, Beansprout1997 xxx


	7. Untrained Hands

Chapter 7

The next day, November was awoken from her light sleep by some kind of loud shouty music. After scrambling with bleary eyes for a minute, she finally located the source; her phone. It was vibrating and screeching with horrible music near her head on her bed stand. It took her a second to work out how, but she eventually did answer it.

"H-hello?" She asked in a gravelly voice, curious as to who would call her and annoyed that they would choose to do it at 6.00 AM. "Morning to you too sweetness" Came the familiar voice of Tony Stark. "Training today at 6.20. Clint and Natasha want to know what you're made of, and I really just want to watch you blow stuff up." November could practically see the excitement on his smug face at the thought of shooting stars whizzing around the training room, and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Fine, I'll be there", She managed to push out through her annoyance, much to the amusement of the billionaire. A small beep sounded, indicating that the call had ended and November sighed.

She decided as it would only take her a moment to get ready that she better take a second to look at this phone and figure out the basics. She took a shot and pressed an icon that looked like an address book marked 'contacts'. It seemed obvious enough to her that that would be where the numbers she needed to know were, and lo and behold she was right. She victoriously thumbed through them, both amused and confused at the listed names. Green Giant, Vodka, Birdy, Moneybags, Spangles, L'Oreal and Bestie. She could guess for the most part who these names belonged to, but 'bestie' was something of a mystery. She stowed it away to investigate later and laboriously pulled herself from the warm bed to get changed.

By 6.15 she was standing outside a door marked 'TRAINING' in a loose pair of black sweats and a long sleeved grey t-shirt, wondering weather or not she should just go in. She could hear someone moving around inside, but caught in the midsts of anxiety that hadn't just quite dissipated, she could only imagine interrupting them and offending them. So here she stood, chewing her nail and clenching her hands, beginning to question if she was even allowed to stand here. Suddenly the doors flung open and Thor emerged, dressed uncharacteristically in sports wear. It took him a moment to register who the little woman before him was, but upon recognizing her as the new recruit he smiled widely and greeted her.

"November! Good morning, was your slumber satisfactory?" He asked in his deep and rumbly voice. She couldn't help but shoot a small smile back, his enthusiasm for everything was just a touch contagious. "It was lovely Thor, thank you for asking" She said in her delicate voice. Now that she was awake, she was a lot more willing to speak civilly to people. He seemed to remember what he'd left the room for and turned to her excitedly; "The tin man sent me to find you, and to bring back his morning beverage. I believe it is called coffee- a delicacy I first encountered many months ago. You would enjoy it I think. Would you like to accompany me?" He waited for her answer as a dog might wait for a treat, with great anticipation. She shook her head as she was once again reminded of why she liked the god of thunder so much- he was massive and as threatening as could be in stature, but he was made of genuine kindness and had the curiosity of a child. She smiled up at him and told him of course she'd like to accompany him, reveling in the fresh wave of joy that lit his face. Apart from anything else, she really had never tried coffee, and Thor made it sound delicious.

So together they set off down the hall to the nearest newly installed coffee bar. It was stocked with dozens of brands and flavors of coffee, tea and hot chocolates and a few different machines. Both the hulking god and the small woman were equally as confused when looking at these machines but eventually November found an old jar of instant right at the back of the cupboard, and between them they made all the necessary and carried them back to the now full training room, chatting all the way about anything and everything. They entered the spacious room to cries of hallelujah emitting from Tony, and smiles from everyone else; the whole team was there. Half way through handing out the coffee and chatting to everyone, the door swung open to reveal Nicholas J. Fury in all his leather jacket glory, followed by a meek looking nurse and a trolley. The conversation died out quickly as the Avengers turned to face the intimidating director. "Jones. You are to receive the same serum your parents gave you daily from this woman here, her name is Dalia. I suggest you make friends, you'll be seeing a lot of each other." Fury turned to leave, and November began to walk toward Dalia, when a hand wrapped itself around her elbow and a voice called out 'wait'.

She turned around to see Steve, a concerned look marring his features as he addressed the director. "Why does she need this serum? I thought after she'd been rescued from her parents that would stop and we'd rely on her natural abilities without enhancing them further." He couldn't believe that Fury wanted to blindly keep giving who knows what, and that November hadn't even questioned it, just took the order. "Well Captain Rogers if you must know, because her parents have been feeding this serum to her for a number of years, November has built up a dependency to it, and can no longer function without it. Her body was built around this serum, in that it controls and magnifies her powers yes, but also keeps her from dying. Without it the sheer energy she would have to harness day to day would burn through her and kill her. Is that good enough for you captain?" Fury finished, quirking the eyebrow above his good eye. The Captain swallowed and nodded, releasing November's elbow, but the look of concern didn't fade. As the director swept out of the room, the Captain's eyes were on his new recruit, a few feet away with the nurse. 'Dalia' didn't say a word as she rolled up the sleeve of Novembers shirt, loaded a needle with a gray substance from a small bottle, and injected it into a vein at her elbow. November hissed as a burning sensation lit up her arm and worked its way around her body, fading over the course of a few minutes until she couldn't feel it anymore. With that Dalia threw the needle onto the trolley and made a swift exit. November breathed a sigh of relief that it was over and turned to face her team, who were looking at her expectantly. They each shared an uneasy look, though she could hardly guess why. She had been given this serum her whole life, granted that she didn't know she would die without it, but that didn't come as a huge shock to her. Evidently it did for them. Natasha stepped forward to say something, but November beat her to the punch; "Aren't we supposed to be training?".

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It was a grueling session in more ways than one. It started off simply enough, The Captain had put November on a treadmill and told her to run until she couldn't anymore; a test of endurance. Concern for her health had effectively ended that test when she hadn't stopped running at break neck speed for an hour and a half. She- through extremely labored breathing- had tried to tell him that she could go for longer, but at that point could not argue with the man. He had his arms crossed, and had firmly told her to get off the treadmill before she hurt herself. So without (much) argument she moved on to where Clint was waiting for her. A gun was thrust into her small hands almost as soon as she had greeted him, the metal cold and intimidating to her warm skin.

In her peripheral vision she could see Natasha giving Thor a lesson (or rather a beating) in hand to hand combat without the use of lightning or his hammer, and Tony half heartedly lifting weights in a corner while chatting to Bruce. Her attention was snapped back to the situation at hand when Clint snapped his fingers in her face, startling her and causing her to blush. He gave a quiet chuckle at her reaction then set about teaching her to aim. Unfortunately holding a gun, let alone shooting one, seemed to be the most foreign thing in the world to the girl, and she just couldn't get to grips with what the archer was saying to her. "Grip it with your palm, not your fingertips. Feel its direction. Shot with both eyes open not one. Hold your arms straight and lower, you'll give yourself a black eye like that". On and on, but with ridiculously little improvement. Within half an hour, November was ready to tear her hair out, her frustration overwhelming her completely. Wordlessly Clint took the gun from her now shaking fingers, and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright you know. It doesn't come naturally to most people-" He began in a brotherly voice.

"It doesn't matter" she interrupted heatedly. "I should have grasped the simple concept of holding the thing by now, but I'm absolutely useless at even that. Always so useless..." She trailed off in a murmur, her eyes misty in the florescent lights. She ignored whatever he was about to say and silently made her way to her next round of training- sparring with one of Russia's deadliest children.

Natasha eyed the new recruit wearily, and as soon as November was stationary, knocked her to the ground in one swift kick. The following silence in the gym was deafening, save for Steve's rushed footsteps growing steadily closer. By the time he had reached them, she was back on her feet and Natasha was poised to begin again. "Romanov!" He said loudly, his tone utterly disbelieving.

"Captain?" She looked at him pointedly, daring him to question her. He in turn took that dare and asked her what she thought she was doing. November was new to all of this and hurting her without warning or training was outrageous conduct. She in turn eyed him glacially, as if sizing him up for a fight.

"She is new, and this is her training. Don't forget you put me in charge of sparring. I have crafted some of the best trained agents in S.H.E.I.L.D and I expect no less from her, so I suggest you back off and let me do my job". Her face could have been carved from marble for all of its expression and movement during her short speech. Steve seemed less than satisfied by her answer, but his concern was quickly shut down by November; "Thank you for your help Captain Rogers, but this is something I both need and want to learn, and I trust that Natasha knows what she's doing". It was quiet and timid sounding, but effective as Steve walked away stiffly to pound the life from yet another unfortunate punching bag.

An hour later after kissing the floor more times than she'd like to admit, November landed a punch on Natasha's arm. Hard enough that she actually noticed. The Russian stopped her assault and claimed that training with her was over for the day, and November couldn't be sure but she thought she heard the spy mumble something about a good job. It brought a smile to her slightly bruised face that she thought she could do something right. Then Tony and Bruce were whisking her away down the hall for her final leg of training that day. She had been expecting it, and was actually somewhat looking forward to it in a kind of twisted way. It was routine. The scientists wanted to know the extent of her powers, so they were finally going to test it.

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Hope you enjoyed reading, feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think! xoxox


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